Safety-razor



(No Model.)-

P. W. STRONG. SAFETY RAZOR.

No. 589,513. I Patented Sept. 7,1897.

WITNESSES: I

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Nrrnn STATES PATENT FFICEe SAFETY-RAZO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,513, datedSeptember *7, 1897.

Application filed May 12, 1896. Serial No. 591,264. (No model.)

To all whom it 'IIMLZ/ concern/.-

Be it known that I, PRESTON WILLIs STRONG, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSafety- Razors, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanyings, forming part hereof.

This invention relates to means for guarding razor edges, and has forits objects to provide a guard or safety device that shall be adapted toblades of various lengths and widths and may be attached to any ordinaryrazor-blade and used in connection with the ordinary handle of therazor, or which guard or safety device may be provided with a handle andused in connection with a separate blade, such as is employed insafety-razors heretofore well known, and has for its objects to providea large range of adjustment and a delicate adjustment of the relativepositions of the guard and cutting edge, whereby razors of differentwidths may be properly adjusted and the wear of the razor-blade in usemay be compensated for and the blade may be set'to a nicety either for aclose shave or otherwise, as maybe desired by the user; also, to providea large lather-cup capable of retaining all the lather that would betaken up in a single shaving operation, thus making it possible for theuser to proceed without interruption from the beginning to the end ofthe shaving operation; also, to permit the razorblade to bereadily andquickly inserted and removed without fear of 'i'njury to its edge andwithout disturbance of the adjusting means; also, to provide for holdingthe side of the razor in proximity to its edge tightly against the guardby spring action and to provide a smooth finish without projections onthe surface held adjacent to the face of the user, and to provide apivoted handle for the safety device, whereby the razor will follow thecontour of the face of the user without special manipulation. These andother objects and advantageous features of my invention willappear fromthe following description' of devices shown in the accompany ingdrawings and embodying my invention.

Figure 1 is a top plan view showing a safety device attached to anordinary razor. Fig. 2

razor-blade in section, of a modified construction of the safety device.

The razora (shown in Figs. 1 and 2) is an ordinary razor provided with atang and handle pivoted to the tang, and the safety device shown inFigs. 1, 2, 3, and 6 is not provided with a handle, as it is designed touse this safety device on an ordinary razor held in the ordinary mannerby the handle of the razor. The safety device shown in Figs. 4.- and 5is provided with 'a handle and it is proposed to employ in this devicearazor a of a construction such as is now employed in safety-razors, therazor itself having no handle.

The safety device shown comprises mainly one piece of sheet metal,preferably spring metal, as spring-brass, and may be struck up by diesinto the form shown, and this springmetal piece includes a guard Z), aspringsocket including a spring-tongue c and a guide cl, and an archedlather-cup 6, connecting the guard and spring-socket. The'guard Z) has aconveXly-curved surface and preferably has slight rearward projectionsZ) I) (see Fig. 3) to provide a bearing for a narrow razor, and itsfront portion curves upwardly and rear-- wardly, merging into thelather-cup e. A series of slots is formed in the material of the guard,so that its bearing-surface upon the face of the userconsists of aseries of comparatively narrow bars with ample space between for thelather to pass upward into the lather-cup, and these bars are unitedinto one continuous piece at their rear ends in proximity to the edge ofthe razor, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and therefore the guardpresents a continuous or substantially continuous surface to the side ofthe razor in proximity to its edge. Thisis especiallyiinportant duringthe insertion and removal of the razor-blade. The lather-cup e isgracefully arched, and in the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 5,inclusive, at its extreme forrazor against the guard 13 in the event ofward portion, where it merges into the guard l), a rounded protuberanceis formed, so that the leading portion of .the safety device may be morereadily manipulated on the portions of the face in proximity to the noseand cars of the user.

The spring-tongue c is of curved outline and tapering toward its end, soas to permit a razor to be readily inserted under it, and bears againstthe outer or lower side of the razor with a yielding spring-pressure.The guide (Z in the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, isstruck inward from the metal piece without altering the general archedcontour and is transversely rounded and longitudinally somewhat convexlyrounded and comes in contact with the inner or upperside of the razor ata point nearer the back of the razor than the contact of thespring-tongue c on the lower side of the razor. The guide 1 in theconstruction shown in Fig. (i is formed bydeflectinginward the entirelength of the metal piece, and this guide lacks the longitudinalcurvature of the guide shown in the other views of .the drawings, buthas sulostantially the same contour transversely in its contact portionsand also comes in contact with the razor nearer the back of the razorthan the spring-tongue c. The effect of the relative positions of thecontacts of the spring-tongue and guide is to cause the edge of therazor to be pressed i nward with a springpressure, so that the side ofthe razor in proximity to its edge is pressed tightly against the guard12. The longitudinal arching of the guide d shown in the main views ofthe drawings insures a more perfect seating of the slight irregularitiesinihe form of the razor or of the parts of the safety device.

The contact with the back of the razor in the spring-socket is shown asformed by an adjustable plate f, bearing directly against the back ofthe razor, this plate being adj usted by screws 9 g, preferablythumb-screws, tapped into the metal piece at the rear end thereof andwith their ends suitably held in the plate, so as to be free to rotaterelatively thereto but to move the plate with them intheir backward andforward movements. This adjustable plate f affords a large bearin gextending through substantially the length of the safety device and iswithout projections on its bearing-face, so that the razor may bereadily moved into and out of the tie vice. By the manipulation of thethumb screws 9 the position of the plate f may be so adjusted as to holdthe razor edge in any desired position relatively to the guard b. If therazor is not of uniform width throughout, there is sufficient freedom ofmovement to permit one end of the plate to be adjusted by its adjlisting-screw farther forward or rearward than the other end of theplate. The range of adjustment is large and permits of the employment ofa standard size of safety device for all ordinary razors. The springaction of the tongue 0, in conjunction with the guide, will ordinarilycause the razor to be pressed rearwardly, so that it will follow the adj ustin g-plate f when the plate is moved rearwardly, and the springmetal readily yields when the adjustingplate is moved forward. Thefarther forward the edge of the razor is moved the more closely will itcut in the shaving operation, and the position of the edge may beadjusted to a nicety, as may be desired by the individual user. Theadjustment is not disturbed by removing or inserting the razor, as thecontinuous surfaces of all parts in contact with the razor-blade permitreadyinsertion and removal of the razorblade, notwithstanding thespring-pressure to which it is subjected, so that after the device hasbeen once adjusted to a razor no'further adjustment will benecessary,except,perhaps, at lon gin tervals to compensate for wear.

A standard length of safety device may be employed for all ordinarylengths of razors, the safety device being set so as to cover theextreme outer portion of the razor edge, as shown in Fig. 1. The extremeinnerportions of a long razor edge are practically not used andtherefore need not be guarded.

The device as thus far described is adapted for attachment to ordinaryrazors, and a razor to which it has been attached may be used in theordinary manner, the user holding the razor by its handle. Such a deviceis highly desirable, especially for persons who are owners of ordinaryrazors or who have become accustomed to the manipulation and care ofordinary razors. In some cases, however, it maybe desirable to employrazors witho ut handles and to provide the safety device with a handle,and in such cases I propose to employ a construction such as is shown inFigs. 4 and 5. The handle h, according to my invention, is pivotallyconnected to the metal piece or case holding the razor, and to that endthe lugs 2' are struck inward from the lather-cup e, and the handle hasa bifurcated shank engaged by pivot-pins with these lugs, and thus thehandle is pivoted on a longitudinal axis, and there is a limitedswinging movement between the handle and the metal case, determined bythe slots formed in the case in the path of the bifurcated ends of thehandle-shank h. This swingingmovein out permits the razor-holder toadjust itself to the somewhat irregular contour of the human face andchin and follow the curves thereof without especial manipulation of thehandle.

The smooth finish of the lower surface of the safety device withoutprojections permits the device to be pressed against the face of theuser and drawn over it by the pivoted handle without discomfort to theuser, and the delicate adjustment and positive holding of the blade inadjusted position insure a safe and satisfactory action of the razorwith this pivoted handle.

It is of course evident that various modifications may be made in theconstructions above described within the purview of my invention andthat parts of my invention may be used separately orin connection withother parts of different construction from that above particularlydescribed.

WVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A safety device for razors comprising a guard and guide, said guardbeing arranged to come in contact with the razor alongside the edgethereof and having a series of bars united together to form onecontinuous surface in proximity to the edge of the razor, the guidebeing arranged to come in contact with the inner side of the razor nearthe back thereof, an inwardly-pressing spring-tongue shaped to presentan oblique edge to the end of the razor when the razor is inserted andarranged to bear upon the outer side of the razor, an arched lather-cupconnecting the guard and guide and tongue, and screw-adjusting meansarranged to bear against the back of the razor, whereby an adjustablespring-socket is formed into which the blade may be inserted and fromwhich it may be removed by longitudinal movement, substantially as setforth.

2. A safety device for razors comprising a guard for the edge of therazor arranged to come in contact with the razor alongside of the edgethereof, said guard consisting of a series of bars united together toform one continuous surface in proximity to the edge of the razor, aspring-tongue arranged to bear upon the outer side of the razor, a guidearranged to come in contact with the inner side of the razor near theback thereof, alather-cup j oining the guard and tongue and guide, andan adjustable plate arranged to bear against the back of the razor,substantially as set forth.

A safety device for razors comprising a guard and guide, an archedlather-cup extending rearwardly from the guard, a springtongue having asmooth outer surface arranged to bear upon the outer side of the razor,adjusting means bearing against the back of the razor, an d a handlepivotally connected to said arched lather-cup whereby the razor andguard are permitted to adjust themselves in operation to the contour ofthe face" of the user, substantially as set forth.

4. In a safety device for razors, in combination, a guard I) having aseries of bars arranged to come in cont-act With the face of the user,said bars being united at their rear ends to form one continuous surfacearranged to bear against the sides of the razor in proximity to itsedge, an inwardly-extending longitudinally-arched guide (1,aspring-tongue 0 constructed and arranged to present an oblique edge tothe end of the razor when the razor is being inserted, an archedlather-cup joining the guard and guide and tongue, and an adjusting-plate f, and means for adjusting the position of said plate f,substantially as set forth.

5. In a safety device for razors, in combination, the guard 19 having aseries of bars arranged to come in contactwith the face of the user, aninwardly-extending guide (1, and spring-tongue c, an arched lather-cup ejoining the guard to the guide and tongue, an ad justin g-plate f andmeans for adjusting the same, lugs i, 1', extending inwardly from saidlather-cup, and the handle h having abifurcated shank h and pivoted tosaid lugs, sub stantially as set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 8th day of May, A. D. 1896.

PRESTON WILLIS STRONG.

YVitnesses:

HENRY D. WILLIAMs, HERBERT H. Games.

